From the usage of plant husks to high-tech materials, bicycle helmets have improved significantly over the past two centuries

Imagine – it's the mid-Nineteenth century and also you're riding your high-wheeled penny-farthing down a dusty road. Sure, there could also be some bumps, but in case you lose your balance you'll find yourself on a comparatively soft dirt road. But over time, these streets are replaced by paving stones, cobblestones, bricks or wood slats. All of those materials are much harder and yet still quite bumpy.

As paved roads develop into more widely utilized in the United States and Europe, cyclists also use them began to suffer gruesome skull fractures and other serious head injuries from falls.

As head injuries became more common, people searched for head protection. But the primary bicycle helmets were very different from today's helmets.

I’m a materials engineer who teaches a course on materials science and engineering in sports at Georgia Tech. The course covers many topics, but particularly helmets, as they’re utilized in many various sports, including cycling, and the materials from which they’re made play a very important role in how they function. Over the a long time, people have used a wide selection of materials to guard their heads while cycling, and firms proceed to develop latest and revolutionary materials.

In the start there was the pith helmet.

Pith helmets

The first head protection concept introduced to the cycling world was a Hat made from marrowthat is the spongy bark present in the trunk of sola plants, . Pith helmet craftsmen pressed the pith into sheets and laminated it over dome-shaped molds to create a helmet shape. Then they covered the hats with canvas to make them weatherproof.

Pith helmets were a far cry from what we’d call a helmet today, but they endured until the early twentieth century, when cycling clubs emerged. Since pith helmets offered little to no ventilation, racers began using them Halo-shaped leather helmets. These had higher airflow and were more comfortable, although they didn't protect the pinnacle significantly better.

Leather halo helmets

The original concept for the Halo helmet called for a straightforward strip of leather to wrap across the brow. But these halo helmets quickly evolved as riders placed additional stripes lengthwise from front to back. They wrapped the leather straps with wool.

The helmet manufacturers then ensure higher head protection began adding more layers of leather strips to extend the thickness of the helmet. Finally, they added various materials resembling cotton, foam and other textiles to those leather layers for higher protection.

While these had higher air circulation than tropical hats, the leather “hairnet” helmets still offered little or no protection within the event of a fall on a paved surface. And like Mark, the leather helmets fell apart when exposed to sweat and rain.

Despite these disadvantages, leather stripe helmets dominated the market for several a long time as cycling evolved throughout the twentieth century.

Then, within the Nineteen Seventies, a nonprofit organization dedicated to testing motorcycle helmets got here calling the Snell Foundation latest standards for bicycle helmets published. They set their standards so high that they only allowed lightweight motorcycle helmets, which most cyclists didn't need to wear.

New materials and latest helmets

Motorcycle equipment manufacturer Bell Motorsports responded to the brand new standards Release of the Bell Biker in 1975. Expanded polystyrene or EPS was used for this helmet. EPS is identical foam used to make Styrofoam coolers. It is light and absorbs energy well.

Involved in the development of the Bell Biker Spraying EPS right into a dome shape. Manufacturers used small pellets of a really hard plastic – polycarbonate or PC – to form an outer shell after which attach it to the skin of the EPS.

Unlike the tropical and leather helmets, this design was lightweight, load-bearing, shock-absorbing and well-ventilated. The PC shell provided a smooth surface in order that within the event of a fall, the helmet would slide across the pavement relatively than being torn around and caught, which could lead to abrupt head rotation and concussions and other head and neck injuries.

Over the subsequent twenty years, as cycling became more popular, helmet manufacturers tried to search out the proper balance between lightweight and ventilated helmets while providing impact protection.

To reduce weight, an organization called Giro Sport Design has developed a pure EPS helmet covered by a skinny Lycra fabric cover as a substitute of a tough PC shell. This design reduced the burden of the PC case and improved ventilation.

In 1989, an organization called Pro Tec introduced a helmet that had a nylon mesh built into the EPS foam core. The nylon mesh significantly increased the structural support of the helmet without the added weight of the PC shell.

Meanwhile, as cycling became more competitive, many riders and manufacturers began doing it Development of more aerodynamic helmets Use of existing materials. A revolutionary teardrop-style helmet was introduced on the 1984 Olympics.

Casual cycling enthusiasts now also wear teardrop helmets.

Helmets available on the market today

Helmet manufacturers proceed to innovate. Today, many business brands use a tough polyethylene terephthalate or PET shell across the EPS foam as a substitute of a PC shell to extend the protection and sturdiness of the helmet while reducing costs.

Meanwhile, some brands still use PC cases. Instead of gluing them to the EPS foam, the The shell itself serves as a moldwhere the EPS expands to suit inside. This eliminates several process steps within the production of helmets, in addition to any gaps between the froth and the shell. This process makes the helmet each stronger and inexpensive to provide.

As helmets proceed to evolve to supply more protection at even lower weight, materials called copolymers like acrylonitrile butadiene styrene are replacing PC and PET shell materials.

There are also materials which are easier and cheaper to provide, resembling: B. expanded polyurethane and expanded polypropylene begins to interchange the ever-present EPS core.

Just as leather and pith helmets would look strange to a cyclist today, bicycle helmets in a century may very well be made out of completely latest and revolutionary materials.